Philip II of Macedon came to the trone in 359 BC in rather difficult circumstances. However, he managed to gain himself a strong position by getting rid of possible competitors for the throne, by buying off an attack of Paeonic tribes, and by defeating the Illyrians who formed a constant threat to Macedon. In 357 he managed to conquer the Athenian colony Amphipolis, located in the north of Hellas. This colony was extremely wealthy as it controlled the goldmining in the mountain Pangaeus, and all the excellent timber in the nearby forrests.

As a fifteen years old kid Philip had been an hostage in Thebes. Here he learned to appreciate the Greek way of living, but he was especially fascinated by their military system. Under Philip Macedon had become a semi-Greek nation, but he wanted more. The conquest of Amphipolis was his first major action in Hellas, but the decissive blow had yet to come. A quarrel between Thebes and the neighbouring Phocis in the early 350s was what Philip had been waiting for. Both cities had a religious disagreement about the treasures of the Delphic temples. Thebes induced her stooges on the Delphic amphictyony to declare Sacred War against the Phocians, but in return they seized the Delhpic temple treasures. With this money they hired mercenaries and made such a good showing against Thebes that the war was only ended by the intervention of Philip. He crushed the Phocians and took their place in the amphictyony. This conflict had brought Philip into the heart of Hellas.

Another conflict about the Delphic treasuries was the reason for another Macedonian intervention. The small city Amphissa would have annexed territory of the holy Delphic oracle, and the central Greek cities had asked Philip to punish this city. Athens and Thebes believed that he had other intention and formed an army to fight of Philip...

The forces.

The Battle at Chaeronea, 338 B.C.
Hellas	Macedon
Infantry
35000	32000
Cavalry
None	2200

The Macedonian way of fighting under Philip was based on a phalanx with at the sides light troops and cavalry. The peltasts and cavalry had to protect the vulnerable sides of the phalanx, but because of their speed they could also be deployed and ordered to attack the sides of the enemy phalanx. The light forces did not only consist of peltasts, but also of hypaspistai. Originally a hysapist was a shield-bearer in service of a knight, but under Philip they evolved into a unit which was not as heavy armed as a hoplite, but certainly much heavier than a peltast.

Philip had also changed the concept of the phalanx. The Greek phalanx had often been quite static, with the exception of the Persian wars when the phalanx was highly mobile. The Macedonian phalanx was in open formation extremely manoeuvrable, much more than a Greek phalanx at that time. The spear of the hoplite was also changed: it had become longer and it was called sarissa by the Macedonians. The benefit of a longer spear was that more spears were sticking out at the front of the phalanx, thus giving the phalanx more thrusting power. On the other hand became the spears so heavy that they had to be held with both hands. That is why it seems likely that the hoplites had their shields hung around their necks. Philip admired the tactics of Epaminondas, but he did not continue his concept of a very deep left wing. Instead he increased the depth of his whole phalanx from 8 to 16 men. This way the phalanx could be used for thrusting as well for pushing.

The main part of the Greek army still consisted of a phalanx. They had come to appreciate the light troops and cavalry more and more, but strangely enough did they not use any cavalry during the battle at Chaeronea. The phalanx was protected by light troops on the sides, as had become normal at that time but the whole army was still quite static, and there were limited possibilities for the tactics, because of a lack of cavalry.

The battle.

The Greek formed a coalition with the help of Athens, Euboia, Corinth, Megara, Laukas, Corsyra and Thebes, and hired 5000 peltasts to complete the army. With this army they settled down in several mountain-passes to stop the advance of Philip, but at Amphissa he managed to break through nevertheless. Quickly the Greeks assemble their army at Chaeronea where they choose a strong position between the acropolis of the city and the river.

Philip commands the hysapists on the right wing of his army, while his son Alexander was in charge of the heavy cavalry on the left wing. The Theban phalanx was placed in a sloped formation, like the Theban Epaminondas had used to do in the glory days of Thebes. The Greeks used a more traditional tactic with a normal phalanx and light troops at both sides of the phalanx. Philip attacks and his right wing crashed into the Greek phalanx. A bloody battle starts, and both sides have equal chances to win the battle until Philip thinks up something. He orders his hysapists to retreat, pretending as if they are fleeing. The Athenians, who formed the left wing of the Greek phalanx, notice this and move forward to hunt down the fleeing Macedonians.

On the other side of Macedonian army Alexander is alert. He sees that the Greek left wing is advancing while the remainder of the phalanx is kept on its place by the Macedonian light forces on his side of the phalanx. The result is that the Greek phalanx is split into two, and Alexander immedeatly used the opening between both parts for a charge with his heavy cavalry. Because of the retreat of the Macedonian right wing their sloped phalanx has transformed into a straigth phalanx. Philip sees that his son had used the opening and orders his troops to attack once again.

The Greeks are surprised by the attack of the Macedonians, who had seemed to be fleeing a few moments ago. Their phalanx can not withstand the attack, and the formation collapses. At the same time the light cavalry on the Macedonian left wing had charged through the swamp area and managed to break through the Greek light forces. Now the Theban elite unit 'Devoted Brothers in Arms' is surrounded as the light and heavy Macedonian cavalry attacks it in the rear, while the peltasts attack it from the other side. The Macedonian victory is complete. Out of the 300 'Devoted Brothers in Arms' 254 were killed, together with thousands Athenians.

The results of this battle.